


in which shylock gets to have some words

by hoisinn



Category: Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare, SHAKESPEARE William - Works
Genre: Gen, Interviews, Post-Canon, Written for a Class, some other plays are referenced
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-24 21:57:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16648562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoisinn/pseuds/hoisinn
Summary: a little something i whipped up for a writing task at school.





	in which shylock gets to have some words

_Sweeping the rounds of Venetian news is the story of a Jewish moneylender, his hunger for revenge murder, and his punishment at the hands of a heroic lawyer, leaving Venice to live in peace and contention. …At least, that’s now it’s been reported. I must wonder, though: Is that all there is to the story? What does he have to say for himself? Why did he do the things he did?_

_I managed to get a private interview opportunity with this Jew. Below is the transcript._

 

_The Jew was already waiting for me just outside my office when I arrived. I invited him in. He was not nearly as intimidating as many written reports have made him out to be._

**Q:** Please sit down. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to interview you. Let’s get started… First and foremost, I just want to ask you some questions regarding your life before your conversion into Christianity. For those who might be unfamiliar with the laws and regulations of Venice, would you mind explaining your decision to become a moneylender?

**A:** Venetian law dictates that I’m not al- that Jews aren’t allowed to partake in manual labour or trade, so moneylending is one of the only manageable and legal ways of survival in this society. It was never my decision. I want to make that clear.

**Q:** Why did you ask for a pound of flesh from Antonio? Isn’t that rather cruel?

**A:** Not nearly as cruel as some of the punishments allowed by law. Regarding the bond…

_A hand was raised to his cheek, his brows furrowed in thought. Was it really that hard to recall?_

**A:** Sometimes, I don’t even know myself. I knew I was thinking logically at the time, but evidently…

_He gestured to his clothes. Instead of wearing his previous Jewish gabardine and his government-mandated red hat, he wore the clothes of the Christian masses. He smiled- grimaced- bitterly._

**A:** I wasn’t thinking nearly carefully enough. I think it might have been just an experiment. I didn’t truly have the intent to hurt him in the beginning- I _wanted_ to, but it would have been too great of a risk. I could have been exiled. It was… curiosity, mostly. Curiosity and an illogical hope of being proved wrong-

**Q:** -Proved wrong?

**A:** Yes. I wanted Antonio to present himself as the man Christianity dictates he should be. Loving his neighbour- that’s me- as he loves himself. His hypocrisy is the thing that stands out the most to me. It’s against my values.

**Q:** Alright, so just to be clear, you only wanted Antonio to pay you back, and you didn’t want his pound of flesh.

**A:** Yes, exactly. I’m what people tend to call a cynic. I wanted Antonio to prove to me that people- Christians- can be good.

**Q:** I do believe there are good Christians.

**A:** If there are, that’s only between themselves. None of them have the decency to spread their virtue to anyone outside their community.

**Q:** I think you’re generalising. None that you’ve met have that decency.

**A:** I’ve met a lot. Most of them come to me, either with insults or with debts. Or both, more often than just one.

_He paused, reflecting again._

**A:** You know, my daughter used to say the same thing. That there are good Christians.

            _She’d be right, I thought._

**Q:** That brings me to my next question, actually. There have been comments floating around concerning your treatment of your daughter, Jessica, that you’ve been impatient and intolerant around her, ordering her around. We even have her word for it. What do you have to say about these criticisms?

**A:** All I have to say is that the commenters are hypocrites. A few years ago, an acquaintance from Padua informed me of a father who would not allow his younger daughter to marry until his older daughter would. I have heard news come from Verona that a young lady was dead from grief due to her arranged marriage. And yet this society says these fathers have done no or little wrong. So why must all the criticism lie on me? All I have done is try and prevent my daughter from being hurt with the same words as I have been spurned with. My poorer actions come from inexperience, not ill will.

**Q:** And yet you damn her for eloping with Lorenzo, and have publicly declared that you would rather the death of her than the loss of your jewels!

**A:** _And yet_ she betrays our faith and runs away with the friend of the very man that spat on my clothes, that strikes me as he would a dog, that detests our proud nation. The man himself turned my daughter Christian, and my daughter as an enemy would bring more pain than a daughter dead. I am unable to forgive her.

**Q:** There’s something I must ask though- if you wanted your riches back so badly, why didn’t you accept Bassanio’s offer of ducats?

**A:** I had already answered that in the courtroom. The flesh was mine through the bond, and I will abide by the law, no matter what that entails. Nowhere in the bond said alternative offers could be made, and so I will accept none. Christians have enforced law on me, and so I will hold them to that.

**Q:** I get what you’re saying, but it seems like you’re looking at this fiasco like it’s purely the Christian’s fault. Do y-

**A:** -I rightfully believe that they hate me because I am a Jew. Was. Was a Jew.

**Q:** Rightfully?

**A:** I was surrounded by celebrations for my daughter for escaping me. Even now, I hear praise for her in corridors and taverns- Jessica is a worthy Christian, Jessica will be received warmly in heaven. What if I were a Christian? She would be shamed for abandoning my judgement and control. I would be sympathised with.

**Q:** But-

**A:** Antonio has many friends, whom he laughs with, and dines with, and trades with. He also has enemies. I am one of them. But you do see him spit at anyone but me? Does he call others “misbeliever”? “Villain”? “Devil”?

**Q:** I-

**A:** Bassanio has robbed from him almost _four_ thousand ducats through incompetence and prodigal habits alone. Yet Antonio still holds his affections, and lays his life on the line for such a friend as this.

**Q:** Shylock, have you ever considered the possibility that it’s not your previous Jewishness that he hated, but simply you as an individual?

**A:** I have, and I find it unrealistic. I am not the only man of my kind in Venice.

_At this, Shylock gave me a look as if daring me to further question the nature of his discrimination. Not wishing to cross a line and further provoke him, I dropped the topic._

**Q:** The official transcript of the court hearing said that you were content at your punishment. Is this true?

**A:** It is true I said it, but I did not feel it. Half my wealth is gone, given to Lorenzo. Everything I own when I die will, too, be given to him, and not to the Jewish community as I wished before. And I have been forced into Christianity. To say I was not content would be honest, but it would be at the cost of my life.

**Q:** How has your life changed since your conversion into Christianity? For the better? For the worse?

_This prompted a few seconds of thought from Shylock. He looked very conflicted._

**A:** I… I can’t say that it’s improved. I feel isolated. From the perspective of the Christians, I tried to kill one of them, and now they have to accept me into their communities, into their churches. I’m constantly met with suspicion. Fear. Myself, I feel like a traitor to the Jews and everything I’ve believed in. Some people though, they’ve started treating me better. They assume Christians are inherently better than Jews. And no-one hurts me with the same discriminatory intent that they did when I was a Jew.

**Q:** And what about the Jewish community? How do they treat you now that you’re a Christian?

**A:** I can barely interact with them anymore. I can no longer rely on usury for a living, due to it being against the Christian faith, so my days are spent working. I can only access the ghetto before sunset, and, as dictated by Venetian law, must return to my penthouse by six at night. My friends have treated me with equal parts sympathy, disdain, and fear, but any trust we had is now gone. I’m an enemy in their eyes.

**Q:** I’m sorry to hear that.

**A:** Any decent person would be.

**Q:** Have you heard any news about Antonio, Bassanio, and the others?

**A:** Bassanio, Gratiano, and their wives permanently reside in Belmont. They don’t need my money, and I would refuse to give anything to them either way. I’m a Christian now, after all. The law doesn’t have quite the same hold on me. A Christian won’t be sentenced to death for insulting a lord.

_Shylock’s voice was filled with spite._

**A:** Antonio has returned to Venice, though- you would have heard about it.

**Q:** I have, yes.

**A:** You’d think he’d rise out of his constant melancholy now that he’s being celebrated as the hero that turned Shylock, the merciless Jew, into a devoted Christian, but he’s sad as ever. Both physically and emotionally isolated from his closest company. I’d say he’s living for the sake of others, not for himself.

**Q:** Final question- what do you think your future will be like?

**A:** I have no way of knowing. If I were to say I am optimistic about it, that would carry connotations of me finding satisfaction in being a Christian. I am too proud of my Jewishness to completely convert. To say I see a desolate future would mean I cannot handle punishment given to me by law. I have declared myself a man firmly believing in justice, and I will maintain that till my death. All I can say is that I am not, and likely will never be, sure of my position in society now. It is a time of turbulence and instability.

**Q:** Thank you for this interview opportunity, Shylock.

**A:** Not a problem.

 

_I had a lot to think about after he left the room. Here is a man that has been denied privileges taken for granted by the Christian populace of Venice, who has been forced to work a disapproved job simply because of his faith. A man who had a daughter, taken away from him. A man that dreaded no judgement, believing himself to do no wrong. A man who stood by the law of the very society that ostracises him, only to have that law take everything else away._

_Listening to his story, I believe Shylock is a victim of Venice. He is cruel, firm in his morals and values, and has villainous aspects to him, but at the heart of it all… I feel he is somewhat justified in his thwarted revenge. If he truly had succeeded in killing Antonio, that would likely be a different story to tell, but I understand now that Shylock is not a deliberate murderer._


End file.
